Molecular dynamics simulations of ion range profiles for heavy ions in light targets

Journal Article · Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section B, Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 286:45-50

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2012.01.020· OSTI ID:1049652

Lan, Chune; Xue, Jianming; Zhang, Yanwen; Morris, James R; Zhu, Zihua; Gao, Yuan; Wang, Yugang; Yan, Sha; Weber, William J

The determination of stopping powers for slow heavy ions in targets containing light elements is important to accurately describe ion-solid interactions, evaluate ion irradiation effects and predict ion ranges for device fabrication and nuclear applications. Recently, discrepancies of up to 40% between the experimental results and SRIM (Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter) predictions of ion ranges for heavy ions with medium and low energies (<25 keV/nucleon) in light elemental targets have been reported. The longer experimental ion ranges indicate that the stopping powers used in the SRIM code are overestimated. Here, a molecular dynamics simulation scheme is developed to calculate the ion ranges of heavy ions in light elemental targets. Electronic stopping powers generated from both a reciprocity approach and the SRIM code are used to investigate the influence of electronic stopping on ion range profiles. The ion range profiles for Au and Pb ions in SiC and Er ions in Si, with energies between 20 and 5250 keV, are simulated. The simulation results show that the depth profiles of implanted ions are deeper and in better agreement with the experiments when using the electronic stopping power values derived from the reciprocity approach. These results indicate that the origin of the discrepancy in ion ranges between experimental results and SRIM predictions in the low energy region may be an overestimation of the electronic stopping powers used in SRIM.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1049652
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-85670; 34899; KP1704020
• Journal Information: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section B, Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 286:45-50, Journal Name: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section B, Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 286:45-50
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory